Welcome to the IFSA European Group!

Welcome to the website of the International Farming Systems Association - Europe Group. This website is primarily a repository of the proceedings of various European IFSA symposia, ensuring that the full-text of the presented papers are widely accessible. You can search the website using the search field (top right of your screen). The website also offers a list of Books & Papers which are key sources of further information on Farming Systems Research.

This website is dedicated to Farming Systems Research in a western context (focusing on Europe). If you are interested in FSR as applied in the Global South, we recommend the Digital Collection by the University of Florida, where you can search and download a large number of papers and publications.

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IFSA Symposium 2016

The IFSA Symposium was held at Harper Adams University in Newport (UK) from 12 - 15 July 2016. The main theme of the Symposium was: "Social and technological transformation in farming systems - Diverging and converging pathways".

The 5th International Symposium for Farming Systems Design was held in Montpellier, 7-10 September 2015. The theme of the Symposium is "Multifuntional farming systems in a changing world". The research focus of the Farming Systems Design (FSD) community is the farm system level, the interactions and feedbacks at lower and higher levels of integration and the tools and methods required for understanding and implementing multi-functional farming systems expressing good trade-offs between agricultural production and ecosystem services.

The 22ndEuropean Seminar on Extension and Education (ESEE) was held in Wageningen (The Netherlands) from 28 April till 1 May 2015. The conference theme was: "Competence and excellence in extension and education" (call for proposals and conference website)

On 10-11 Feb. 2015 the Good Food - Good Farming conference has taken place in Brussels. It was organised by civil society organisations and grassroots movements such as ARC 2020, Friends of the Earth Europe, the IFOAM EU-Group, and the European Economic and Social Committee.

The first Humid Tropics Integrated Systems Conference, with the theme "The role of systems research in sustainable intensification" took place at IITA in Ibadan (Nigeria), 7-10 October 2014.

The 11th European IFSA Symposium took place 1-4 April 2014 at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. The overall theme is "Farming Systems facing global challenges - capacities and strategies". Go the the Website for the IFSA 2014 for the detailed information.

The 2012 European IFSA Symposium took place at Aarhus University in Denmark, from 1 to 4 July. The theme was: "Producing and reproducing farming systems: New modes of organisation for the sustainable food systems of tomorrow".Website for the IFSA 2012, with all the detailed information!

The Southern and Eastern African Association for Farming Systems Research-Extension (SEAAFSRE) held its 11th regional conference on 19-21 Nov. 2012 in Pretoria, South Africa. Its theme was: ‘Innovation System Perspective in Agriculture and Rural Development for smallholder farmers

2014: International Year of Family Farming

Among its initiatives for the International Year, FAO is planning to publish a major study on family farming and agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in 2014 as part of its State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) series.